.jpg)
Photo:
“An evening of alternative hip-hop” is how support act Gideon Conn describes the smorgasbord of treats laid out lovingly by tonight’s headliners. It quickly becomes evident that it is hard to argue with such a description; following shouty, day glo-grimers Producers With Computers, Conn spreads his goodwill throughout the venue and manages to juggle sounding like Skee-Lo with presenting kid’s TV. He rounds off his short set with a happy-clappy ode to Le Sac and Pip and amazingly, this is all achieved without coming across as a cynical arse hole. Alternative indeed.
Punctuating the evening as compere, the poignant Mr Polar Bear supplements the intros and outros with his own gripping spoken word street poetry. Juxtaposing warm humour with real experiences the impact of his words instantly justify his inclusion and hold the attention of a crowd who by rights, at this point in the evening should be milling around and complaining to each other that £3.70 for a can of lager is rather excessive.
By the time the main act take to the front room themed stage, Koko has an itch only some razor sharp electro poetry can scratch. Lucky really. Tearing through their already infamous/yet to be released album, Le Sac and Pip brim with their usual energy, wit and vigour. The imposing sight of a monsterouosly bearded man standing at six foot four in a trucker cap and suit spitting ferociously into his mic never loses its punch. Practically blowing steam out of his ears throughout ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’ Pip is sedately momentarily by Le Sac as the pair’s new single ‘Look For The Woman’ brings the tempo down briefly.
Successfully pulling themselves back on every occasion, they flirt with venturing somewhere pretentious at times (an odd routine with a woman's coat and a hat stand pushes it pretty close) but the engaging nature of their tunes (self harm, suicide and some other sunny topics pop up) and use of wit sees them through. The Radiohead sampling ‘Letter From God’ is as triumphant as you’d expect and their 2007 radio banger ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ is duly dispatched with all the relevant props (lecturn, oversized bible, shoutiness) and seemingly with extra bells and whistles.
However, the highlight of the set is undoubtedly the devastating ‘Angles’. The title track of their debut album builds and layers the tension like a good thriller should before delivering the shocking climax that will ensure it won’t get much day time radio play. After exhausting their modest catalogue, the pair’s inevitable encore consists of a sparkling, chopped up squelchy take on Prince’s ‘Cream’ and a raucous cover of The Specials’ ‘Nite Club’. As long as Pip and Le Sac remember not to take themselves too seriously, these are two very unconventional pop stars we'll see a lot more of.
